Raiders Fall To Texans, 30-14
OAKLAND (CBS/AP) -- J.J. Watt found a new way to impact a game.
Watt caught a 1-yard touchdown pass, Arian Foster ran for 138 yards and a score and the Houston Texans won their second straight game to open the season, beating the Oakland Raiders 30-14 on Sunday.
Instead of controlling the game from his usual defensive end position, Watt made his biggest impact on the opening drive when he lined up as a tight end and caught a pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to get Houston (2-0) started.
After losing their final 14 games in a two-win season in 2013, the Texans have opened 2014 with back-to-back wins under new coach Bill O'Brien.
The home opener for the Raiders (0-2) hardly could have gone worse as they fell behind 27-0 after three quarters.
They turned the ball over three times, including one bizarre play where Johnathan Joseph stripped James Jones twice on the same slapstick play that defined this game for Oakland.
Jones caught a 20-yard pass from Derek Carr late in the first half before getting stripped by Joseph at the Houston 35. Jones picked the ball up and ran toward the end zone, but Joseph knocked the ball out again from behind and D.J. Swearinger recovered at the Texans 3.
That was one of three turnovers in scoring territory by the Raiders. Carr moved Oakland down the field with a 41-yard run early in the second quarter only to negate that good play by throwing a pass that was intercepted by Kareem Jackson that set up Randy Bullock's first of three field goals.
Mychal Rivera then fumbled a catch early in the third quarter and Joseph returned it 49 yards to set up Fitzpatrick's second TD pass of the game, a 12-yarder to DeAndre Hopkins that made it 24-0 that got the boo birds out in earnest.
Fitzpatrick finished 14 for 19 for 139 yards to beat the Raiders for the third time in as many starts with as many teams. He led last-minute comebacks for Buffalo in 2011 and Tennessee last season before enjoying an easier win this time.
The frustration for the home crowd that has endured 11 straight seasons without a winning record began on the opening drive when the Texans easily moved the ball downfield with help of Foster's 40-yard run.
On second-and-goal at the 1, Watt lined up at tight end and was wide open in the end zone when two Oakland defenders covered Foster. Watt caught his first pass since his days as a tight end at Central Michigan in 2007 to give the Texans the lead.
Watt didn't do much defensively until his hit on Carr led to an interception by Brooks Reed late in the fourth quarter.
Foster, who has back-to-back 100-yard rushing games in his return from back surgery last season, scored on a 5-yard run on Houston's second drive to make it 14-0.
That was far too big a deficit for Carr to overcome in his second start of his rookie season.
Playing against the team that drafted his big brother David first overall in 2002, Derek Carr went 27 for 42 for 263 yards with a late TD pass to James Jones and two interceptions.
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